New York Late Fee Calculator
Your late fee
$50.00
At the legal limit
Paid 12 days late, after the 5-day grace period.
The lease asks for $50.00, exactly the most N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2) permits on these figures.
- Days past due
- 12 days
- Grace period ends
- October 3, 2026
- Earliest fee date
- October 4, 2026
- Lease late fee
- $50.00 flat
- Legal maximum
- $50.00
- Rent + late fee
- $1,300.00
Limit set by New York (the smaller of $50 and 5% of the monthly rent): $50.00
min($50.00, 5% × $1,250.00 monthly rent) = $50.00
New York, earliest legal fee date: October 4, 2026
Next step: turn these figures into a late rent notice for the tenant.
New York rent late fee law
New York: a charge for paying rent late is allowed only once the rent is still unpaid five days after its due date, and it is capped at the lower of $50 and 5% of the month's rent.
2. No landlord, lessor, sub-lessor or grantor may demand any payment, fee, or charge for the late payment of rent unless the payment of rent has not been made within five days of the date it was due, and such payment, fee, or charge shall not exceed fifty dollars or five percent of the monthly rent, whichever is less; [...]
Late rent notice builder
Before you send it: this builds a reminder letter about overdue rent and a late charge. It is not an eviction notice. A notice to pay rent or quit is a separate document, and New York has its own rules for it. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
[Your name or company]
Date: October 10, 2026
To: [Tenant name]
[Rental property address]
Re: Overdue rent for [Rental property address]
Dear [Tenant name],
This letter is a reminder that the rent of $1,250.00 for [Rental property address] was due on September 28, 2026. As of October 10, 2026, $1,250.00 of it is still unpaid (12 days past due).
Your lease provides for a late charge, which comes to $50.00.
Amount now due
- Unpaid rent
- $1,250.00
- Late charge
- $50.00
- Total
- $1,300.00
Please pay $1,300.00 at your earliest opportunity.
If this letter crossed with your payment, please disregard it.
Regards,
[Your name or company]
How to use the New York rent late fee calculator
- Enter the monthly rent and the rent that is overdue.
- Enter the date the rent was due and the date it was paid, or today if it is still unpaid.
- Choose how the lease sets the late fee (percent of rent, flat amount or dollars per day) and type the figure from the lease.
- Enter the grace days written in the lease.
- Read the late fee, the earliest fee date and the most N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2) allows, then copy the figures or print a late rent notice.
Work out interest on an overdue B2B invoice under New York law. The legal default rate — what applies when the contract is silent — is 9%, and the statute is quoted verbatim below. All math runs locally in your browser.
Statutory prejudgment rate on contract debts (simple), from the earliest date the claim existed. The 2% consumer-debt rate does not apply to B2B.
Late fee breakdown
- Interest owed
- —
- Daily rate
- —
- Total (invoice + interest)
- —
Still unpaid? Generate a formal demand letter — it computes the interest and cites New York's statute (CPLR 5004; GOL 5-501; Penal Law 190.40) for you.
Worked example: New York invoice interest at 9%
Interest at New York's statutory default of 9% a year, worked out with the same formula as the calculator above: amount × (9% ÷ 365) × days. If your contract states its own rate, enter that rate in the calculator instead.
| Invoice amount | 30 days late | 60 days late | 90 days late |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000.00 | $7.40 | $14.79 | $22.19 |
| $5,000.00 | $36.99 | $73.97 | $110.96 |
| $10,000.00 | $73.97 | $147.95 | $221.92 |
What New York law says about invoice interest
Interest shall be at the rate of nine per centum per annum, except where otherwise provided by statute; provided the annual rate of interest to be paid in an action arising out of a consumer debt where a natural person is a defendant shall be two per centum per annum [...]
Quoted verbatim from the linked official source — not our paraphrase. How we source and re-check every row is documented in the data methodology.
Maximum late fee in New York — written B2B contracts
Hard cap 25% criminal (effective).
Corporations can't raise the 16% civil cap but CAN raise the 25% criminal cap, so 25%/yr is the effective B2B ceiling (loans $250k+ escape civil; $2.5M+ escape all).
The rate of interest, as computed pursuant to this title, upon the loan or forbearance of any money, goods, or things in action, except as provided in subdivisions five and six of this section or as otherwise provided by law, shall be six per centum per annum unless a different rate is prescribed in section fourteen-a of the banking law. [...] 6. a. No law regulating the maximum rate of interest which may be charged, taken or received, except section 190.40 and section 190.42 of the penal law, shall apply to any loan or forbearance in the amount of two hundred fifty thousand dollars or more, other than a loan or a forbearance secured primarily by an interest in real property improved by a one or two family residence. b. No law regulating the maximum rate of interest which may be charged, taken or received, including section 190.40 and section 190.42 of the penal law, shall apply to any loan or forbearance in the amount of two million five hundred thousand dollars or more. [...] No corporation shall hereafter interpose the defense of usury in any action. [...] The provisions of subdivision one of this section shall not apply to any action in which a corporation interposes a defense of criminal usury as described in section 190.40 of the penal law. [...] A person is guilty of criminal usury in the second degree when, not being authorized or permitted by law to do so, he knowingly charges, takes or receives any money or other property as interest on the loan or forebearance of any money or other property, at a rate exceeding twenty-five per centum per annum or the equivalent rate for a longer or shorter period.
Basis: GOL 5-501, 5-521; Penal Law 190.40. Compare all 51 jurisdictions in the maximum late fee by state table and cap-regime map.
Rent and invoices follow different laws — consumer debt is not covered
The Invoice tab, the rate card and the statute sections on this page are about business-to-business invoices. Residential rent late fees live in New York's landlord-tenant law. On the Rent tab, N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2) is checked against your lease figures and quoted in full. Consumer credit has separate, stricter rules. The distinction is explained in B2B invoice late fees vs. residential rent.
Use this data
New York's row — rate, cap, citation, verbatim quote, verification date — is part of our open 51-jurisdiction dataset: CSV · JSON (CC BY 4.0, cite myinvoicetemplate.com). Set late-fee terms on your next invoice with the free invoice generator, or state them clearly using the wording guidance in the payment terms guide.
New York late fee FAQ
Is there a legal limit on rent late fees in New York?
New York: a charge for paying rent late is allowed only once the rent is still unpaid five days after its due date, and it is capped at the lower of $50 and 5% of the month's rent. Source: N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2), checked 2026-09-29; the Rent tab quotes it word for word.
When can a landlord charge a late fee in New York?
Not before day 6 after the rent was due (N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2)). Enter the due date and the lease's grace days in the calculator to get the earliest date a fee may be charged.
How do I work out a late fee on rent in New York?
Enter the monthly rent, the overdue amount, the date the rent was due and the date it was paid, then the late fee in the lease (a percent of rent, a flat amount or dollars per day) and its grace days. The calculator gives the late fee, the earliest fee date, the most N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2) allows and rent plus fee, and turns them into a late rent notice.
Can I charge late fees on overdue invoices in New York?
Yes — on business-to-business invoices. If your contract or invoice states a late-fee rate, that rate governs (subject to the cap rules below). If nothing was agreed: 9%. Statutory prejudgment rate on contract debts (simple), from the earliest date the claim existed. The 2% consumer-debt rate does not apply to B2B. Statute: CPLR 5004; GOL 5-501; Penal Law 190.40, verified 2026-08-19. Consumer and rent debts follow separate laws.
What is the maximum late fee on a B2B invoice in New York?
For a written B2B contract: 16% civil / 25% criminal usury caps — loans of $250,000+ escape the civil cap, $2.5M+ escape both; corporations cannot plead civil usury (effective B2B ceiling 25%). Basis: GOL 5-501, 5-521; Penal Law 190.40. The full cap analysis is on the Invoice (B2B) tab; this covers business-to-business deals only — consumer credit has stricter separate caps.
What interest applies if my contract doesn't mention late fees in New York?
The statutory default rate of 9%. Statutory prejudgment rate on contract debts (simple), from the earliest date the claim existed. The 2% consumer-debt rate does not apply to B2B. Statute: CPLR 5004; GOL 5-501; Penal Law 190.40 (verbatim quote on this page, verified 2026-08-19).
Where does this data come from, and when was it verified?
Every invoice-interest figure on this page comes from our 51-jurisdiction dataset: each row researched against the controlling statute or the state's official current-rate page, independently re-checked, and stamped with its own verification date — New York's row was last verified 2026-08-19. The operative legal text is quoted verbatim on this page with a link to the official source, the methodology is public, every verification pass is logged in the changelog, and the full dataset is downloadable (CC BY 4.0). For rent, the Rent tab quotes N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2) word for word, links its source and gives the date it was checked (2026-09-29).
Not legal advice. This page summarizes N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2) and New York's commercial-interest statute for general information, with the verification date shown above — it tells you when we last confirmed the figures, not that they are still current today. Statutes change and courts interpret them; verify the cited statute at the official source, or ask a licensed attorney in your state, before charging a late fee or demanding interest.